Filled with joy and intention, Summer 2023 has come to a close. THANK YOU to our campers, our camp families, our faculty, our alumni, our camp committee, our donors, and most importantly, our staff, for making this summer so wonderful. We made friendships that will last a lifetime. We learned. We prayed. We made memories.
Over the course of the summer, you told us:
“Camp is Camp again!”
“My son had the best summer of his life!”
“From the pictures and social media posts, we felt like we were part of camp too!”
Summer recap by the numbers:
735 campers
180 staff members
10 countries represented
35 faculty members
170 Alumni
35 Camp Committee members
156 evening programs
300 trips down the zipline
162 first-time campers
15 times singing Stars in the Sky
Too many smiles to count
And so much more…
At GFC, we refer to the summer as the Shabbat of the Year. On Shabbat, we take time to set the day apart. We rest, we rejuvenate, we spend time with people we love. Camp gives us the opportunity to do all of this, and more. When we say goodbye to Shabbat, with Havdalah, we intentionally separate that time from the rest of the week and begin to look forward to the next Shabbat. We take the warmth, sweetness, and joy with us throughout the week, hoping we have enough to sustain us until the next Shabbat. When we leave camp, we do the same. We hope that all that we have learned, felt, and become will last until the next time we are together again.
We are already counting down the days until next summer begins. (Stay tuned for our Summer 2024 dates!) Until then, join us for Fall or Spring Camp (1st-8th graders), NFTY events (8th – 12th graders), Mitzvah Weekend (adults!), or Family Camps (all ages). Stay tuned for our Fall event calendar in our next Tell Me S’more. We can’t wait to welcome you back home to GFC!
Shabbat Shalom,
Erin Mason
Camp Director